If I could be a member of any group in Rock history, I would be one of the Pips. More then being a member of the Beatles or even a member of the E Street Band I would be a Pip, and I’m not only one who feels this way.
I mean the Pips really are coolest back-up singers of all time. I mean check out this Geico commercial.
LOL “Take a train to happy town.” I mean c’mon people what is not to love about this commercial. I’m not being facetious or ironic in my love the of the Pips, I’m serious. These guys have inspired generations. Look at this little girl wanting to be a Pip.
Then there’s Gladys Knight, one of the greatest vocalist in popular music. Add her brother and their two cousins and you got Gladys Knight & The Pips. Gladys Knight started performing as a child. If you thought Michael Jackson was a child protégé check out Gladys at age seven.
Do you hear the way she shapes the melody by pulling back at the ends of phrases? Then she just floats up to the higher notes and slowly builds through the song. Oh good glory hallelujah, that last note. That’s righteous. If that’s how you sound at age seven, then I guess it's no surprise that she became the known as the Empress of Soul. Her impact can be heard in pretty much every female singer in popular music. Mariah Carey when inducting her into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame said, “She’s like a textbook to learn from. You hear her delivery, and you wish you could communicate with as much honesty and emotion as she does.”
Gladys Knight & The Pips recording of “Midnight Train To Georgia” is one of those songs that is so beautifully performed and nuanced that I wonder how it doesn’t impact everyone who hears it. I don’t like saying comments like “if this doesn’t song doesn’t make you cry, you must be dead” because people have said that to me about songs that they love that really didn’t do it for me. But I get what they mean because sometimes a song touches you in such an immediate and real way that you cannot imagine it not having that effect on everyone who hears it.
The Pips act as the Greek chorus filling in details and giving the audience insight into the story that is being told. The Pips utilize every note they sing to add to the emotional impact of the story. My favorite Pip moment in this song comes at 1:35 in. The Pips sing “uh, uh,” Gladys responds with an “uh,” and the Pips immediately respond back with “no uh, uh.” Then it gets better as the Pips sing “woo, woo, woo” which reflects back to the train sound in chorus, but is used hear to describe the sorrow and crying as he has to sell his car.
“I’d rather live in his world, than live without him in mine.”
Gladys says it all in one line. She’s embracing her man not when things are going to great but in a moment of his failure. Gladys sings with a combination of gospel expression with a soulful elegance. She opens up on higher notes but it’s the quiet moments, which draw the listener in as she tells a story with every single word she sings.
All aboard to the midnight train to Georgia y’all. It doesn’t get much better than this.
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